Battle of Agnadello

The Battle of Agnadello (14 May 1509) was a major battle of the War of the League of Cambrai that was fought between the armies of France and the Republic of Venice. The Venetian army, led by Bartolomeo d'Alviano, was surrounded and crushed by the French, and the Venetians lost what had taken 800 years' exertion for them to conquer as a result of the battle.

The French king Louis XII of France left Milan in 1509 and invaded the Republic of Venice, so Venice hired the cousins Bartolomeo d'Alviano and Niccolo di Pitigliano to command a mercenary army that had been massed near Bergamo. As the army marched south towards the Po River in search of better positions, its rearguard - led by d'Alviano - was attacked by the French general Charles II d'Amboise. Pitigliano sent d'Alviano advice that he should avoid a pitched battle and continue south, but d'Alviano - who had become complacent after the Venetians repelled the first few French assaults - refused. He soon found his army surrounded on three sides, and his army was destroyed over the next three hours. Pitigliano was forced to rapidly retreat towards Treviso and Venice as a result of the defeat at Agnadello, and the French occupied the remainder Lombardy.